The invention relates to a wireless network with several network nodes which each comprise a radio device, one of said nodes forming a transfer network node which is designed for the transmission of data between at least one concealed network node and all other network nodes.
Such a wireless network is known from the article xe2x80x9cCode-Name Bluetoothxe2x80x9d by Wolfgang Schulte, Funkschau 23, 1998, pp. 80 and 81. The wireless network is formed by several pico-networks which each comprise several network nodes. One of the nodes in a pico-network has a master function. All other nodes in a pico-network have a slave function. One of the nodes with slave function in such a pico-network serves to exchange data with a node of another pico-network.
The invention has for its object to provide a wireless network in which data are transmitted in a different manner from several directly accessible network nodes to a network node which is not accessible to all network nodes.
This object is achieved by means of a wireless network of the kind mentioned in the opening paragraph
in that one of the network nodes forms a central network node for controlling the radio traffic,
in that the central network node is designed for transmitting frame synchronization data for forming frames which are used in each radio device,
in that the transfer network node is designed for exchanging certain data of the central network node with the concealed network node, and
in that the central network node is designed for assigning a sub-frame present in a frame for the exchange of the data between the transfer network node and concealed network nodes.
The term xe2x80x9cwireless transmissionxe2x80x9d is understood to refer to a radio, infrared, or ultrasound transmission, and the like. A transfer network node in the wireless network enables a concealed network node to supply data coming from a central network node and designed for the radio traffic in the wireless network. The transfer network node imitates the function of the central network node for the concealed network node. This is achieved in that a sub-frame in the MAC stage (MAC =Medium Access Control), which sub-frame lies in the MAC frame, is assigned. The data transmission is organized on the basis of the MAC frame and the sub-frame present in the MAC frame in a radio device of a network node.
In a first phase of the frame, the central network node transmits frame synchronization data, and it transmits control data in a second phase of the frame. The invention renders it possible for these data to be passed on to the concealed network node in that the transfer network node in a first phase of the sub-frame is designed for transmitting the frame synchronization data received from the central network node and in a second phase of the frame for transmitting certain control data received from the central network node.
Other aspects of the invention relate to further phases of the frame and sub-frame. The sub-frame is called initializing sub-frame before a concealed network node is included into the wireless network, and operational sub-frame after it has been included therein.
Still another aspect of the invention relates to a method for the wireless transmission of data between several network nodes which each comprise a radio device, and to a network node denoted central network node, and to a network node denoted transfer network node.